2026 Free Agent Thread

Trust nothing you read. This is the time of season for....

 

Plus “content” is not a resounding endorsement

 

Worth noting that this isn't just true in sports...sadly.

 

This kinda syncs with my memory... but I admit that memory might be murky.

What I do remember are the 3rd down throws in clutch times. A QB that gave us a chance regardless.

 

The best I can remember from back then is Ben started fast in the 2005 playoffs, I don't remember them doing that in the regular season.

 

I also remember the commentators bitching about Ben "gaming" the QB rating because he'd take sacks instead of throwing it away.

 

Both Tomlin and Cowher could win games with average QBs, but I doubt he would make it to the AFCCG that many times in today's NFL with those QBs.

 

And Noll was a better coach than Cowher

 

I'm not buying that they have 12 picks they should be trying to upgrade at LG.

 

Has Khan just been sleeping since day one of free agency there is more work to be done

 

Noll is the greatest head coach in NFL history as far as I'm concerned. Hell even the Steelers-haters on FS1's First Things First show admitted that the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970's was the greatest dynasty of all time and it wasn't even close. 49ers of 80's were 2nd... and then the 2 separate Patriots dynasties and Chiefs dynasty of 2020's.

Also Noll overachieved, BIG TIME in 1984 and 1989... did more with less and all that jazz.

 

Here is some more fun with stats from that era:

2004: Steelers led the league in 1st quarter rushing play percentage by 6%: https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/rushing-play-pct?date=2005-02-07
The 2004 Steelers were second in 1st quarter time of possession at just over 56%: https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/1st-quarter-time-of-possession-share-pct?date=2005-02-07
Both yards per attempt and yards per completion were top 5 in the league: https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/yards-per-completion?date=2005-02-07 and https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/yards-per-pass-attempt?date=2005-02-07

Overall, you have a team running the ball a bunch to protect a rookie QB. But you have that rookie Qb just cutting it loose when he does throw it.

I think the past season, the numbers for passing were around bottom 5 and way less than Ben's rookie year. There used to be a stat floating around that tracked how often each QB threw short of the sticks on third downs. I can no longer find it...I think the website that did it went belly-up.

But, I remember Ben's always being really low. In other words, Ben threw to the sticks or beyond a bunch on third downs. And the amazing thing in his rookie year even, he completed a great deal of them.

 

LoL

 

We are all Steelers fans here guys. I know sometimes is hard to remember, and I too have a habit of forgetting it at times, and I have to remind myself of it.

 

Some fans just seem to want to try and start something running their mouth on a message board, I use the ignore feature because I don't want to get banned if I keep responding to them .

 

It's a Steelers thing. Tomlin was I believe 26-5 versus Rookie Qbs, compared to Bill Belichick who was also great against rookie Qbs 21-6.

 

There was talk of that, but as I have found throughout my time is that people can find things, stats, and even invent new stats to make things be how they want them to be. I always thought it was a bit of jealousy when I would hear it. Ben never saw a play that he thought he couldn't make in his younger years, and it did cause many sacks, but also as we saw, many huge plays.

 

I agree He was the best HC ever, but I always have wondered if He could do the same since the current type of FA that didn't start until 1993. It's a whole different ball game that Cowher, and Tomlin had to face. Noll could never have kept those teams He had together, and it would change things hugely, but I like to think he would have adapted, although I have no proof of this.

 

This is what I think too.

Just had the heart of a lion.

And it's hard to fault him for it given all the massive plays after doing crazy things like shrugging of DL.

And while I think this attitude hurt the team late in his career, there's no way he throws that ball to Santonio without having just insane belief in himself.

 

Hard to argue against this as a Steelers fan.

The caveat I'd put in here would be that I don't think it's really possible to compare coaches pre and post UFA/Cap.

Noll was the perfect coach for the era he was in. Just like Billy B was basically the perfect coach / GM for the post UFA/Cap era IMO.

 

Winner.
Especially since only a play, or was it two before, he hit Santonio for the TD on a easier catch, and Santonio let it go right through his hands. A lesser confident Qb would had folded up at that point thinking, well I did what I could, and apparently it's not in the cards for me, but not Ben he was like , let me get another try. LoL

 

Into triple coverage. On 2nd down IIRC.

The "smart" play there is to throw it away and live another down (two if you need it).

Instead, he makes the best throw I've ever seen in real-time.

 

What was funny is that 2 of the Cardinals DBs in the area thought the ball was too far out of bounds for Holmes to catch.